Bella, Mutant: The Early Years  A preview
by DemonChick344
Summary: Bella's life at Xavier's - it was a wild ride of friendship, laughter, tears and war - but she wasn't alone, was she? The story of a young Bella and her many friends. Note: This is The Preview!


**This is the preview for Bella, Mutant: The Early Years. This takes place around half way through the story, as what happens here defines Bella. Also, The Early Years isn't Bella centric, but rather centred around other mutants, like those at Westchester and some people at the Massachusetts academy. So, enjoy!**

**Emma's POV**

I drove along the mountain road on my dark blue motorbike, breathing in the crisp night air. I had chosen not to wear a helmet –well, I hardly needed to anyway. The town was mostly black now, only a few pinpricks of orange light betraying its presence down below in a winding valley.

Riding at night was something akin to meditating for me. It calmed and relaxed me when I was tense, which had become something of a fixture of late. I slowed the bike down, and pulled over to the side of the road, my pale eyes staring up at the stars as I sat on my bike. The moon was bright, and far off in the distance I could see silver clouds.

Without warning, my cell phone buzzed in my pocket. I sighed and got it out, answering the call.

"Frost," I grumbled, "Who is it and what do you want?"

"Emma? Thank god," Came the worried voice of someone who I hadn't heard from in a year, Ororo Munroe, also known as Storm, "One of my students is missing."

"Ah," I replied coldly, "Why am I not surprised?" I paused, letting the words sink in, "And why are you ringing me? Last time we saw each other you called me a frigid bitch and threw a vase as my head," I rolled my eyes, slowing down, "Five stitches, you know." My left hand absently traced the nearly invisible scar on my right cheek, shaped like a reverse letter F.

It hurt, saying that. We'd been closer than sisters, Storm and I – and a petty fight had ruined it all. A fight over Dr. Jean-the-sun-shines-out-of-my-fat-ass-Grey. That stuck-up bitch.

Storm sighed over the phone.

"What's done is done-" She began, her voice soft.

"No, you don't understand," I said harshly, "We aren't friends anymore, alright? You said so yourself! So don't ring me up and ask me for goddam favours!" I clenched my left fist, feeling the tendons scream. So much for the meditation, then.

I was about to press the end button when Storm said suddenly, her voice full of grief, "It's Charlie's daughter."

"Charlie – _what?_" Charlie Swan, Infernox, member of the X-men. A friend of mine. The way I figured, you made only a few true friends in life, but you kept them close, looked after them, and they looked after you. But the bad thing about that is people tend to notice, and called you a cold bitch and things like that.

"It's Bella. She went missing a couple of hours ago, and we think she's in your area." Her words were rushed – a rarity with Storm, usually she spoke in a calm, measured voice.

"My area? For all you know – _Munroe_, I could be in Russia," I retorted, shivering slightly as a cool gust of air swept past me. I looked up at the mountain peak, and then down at the valley, "Besides, what about Scott, Beast and Charles?"

"Beast is in D.C, Scott and Charles are in England. Jean's unconscious-"

"What?"

"Kitty knocked her out after Bella ran away. And Charles is keeping tabs on certain mutants. You're one of them, that's how I know where you are," _Shock, horror. _Storm paused, "Please Emma, she's like a daughter to Jean-"

"Fuck her!" I snarled, "Give me one good reason why I should even _consider _doing anything for that bloody-"

"-Then do it for me!" Storm cried, "For heaven's sake!" Her desperate voice stabbed into my heart, causing waves of guilt to wash away the anger. I looked upwards, and saw clouds had begun to hide the stars.

"I told you 'Ro, I ain't religious." I said slowly, "And this is for old time's sake, eh?" I started the bike again, "Where's Bella?"

"She's in the town below you. She had a GPS tracker with her, but she must have thrown it away – and Emma, Jean tried to read her mind and apparently Bella's being chased." Storm told me. I looked down, at the town, and smiled grimly.

"I'll see what I can do," I said finally, "I was itching for a fight anyway, and Charlie's a friend." There was silence, and I mentally kicked myself. _Great way to bring up the subject of friends._

"Oh – Emma?" She said after a while.

"Get on with it." I said.

"Thanks for this. I'll talk to you, okay?" Storm hung up.

"What's there to say?" I whispered, and revved the bike's engine, my keen eyes tracing the outline of a road that led down to the town.

...

I stopped at the outskirts of the tiny town, keeping the bike engine running, and began to scan the minds nearby.

"_Damn this movie is good! Trinity is HOT!"_

"_Nine...Ten...Jack...Queen...King...oh, I'm all in baby!"_

"_That idiot must be wrong! There's no way my tab can be that much!"_

"_Berverley Hills is on tonight...Sam better not be watching tv."_

"_Oh shit, shit, shit! Okay Bella, be calm. How can I be calm? He's got damn superspeed! Why me?"_

My head snapped up as I concentrated on her mind voice alone.

"_I think he's gone – no, he's back, with a knife! RUN!" _

Up three blocks, in an abandoned warehouse yard. I accelerated up the road, the tires squealing on the slick bitumen road. The warehouse was up ahead, the main gate ajar. The bike zoomed into the yard and suddenly I put on the brakes, skidding to a stop.

My eyes widened minutely. A girl was laying in a pool of her own blood, a tall man standing over her, a knife in his hand. He was lean with a shaven head, tattoos decorating his face and neck.

"What did you do?" I yelled, stepping off the bike and walking forward. He looked up, and grinned wickedly.

"The Mother demands sacrifices." He said loudly, turning his body towards me, "And she shall get them. I will not disappoint her!" With a roar, he ran towards me with blinding speed. He didn't anticipate that I knew about his super speed however, and that I was expecting him to do this. I felt my emotions fade as I turned to diamond, and my brain automatically began to assess the situation.

You should know that diamond is the hardest naturally occurring element on earth. Adamantium doesn't count as it comes from space. But back to what I was saying: If you punch someone in the chest and you have diamond skin, as well as a fair amount of speed and force behind this punch, it's going to snap their sternum, break several ribs, puncture their lungs and your fist will most likely burst through their chest. It's messy, but very effective.

But when your target is running towards you at 150 kilometres per hour, it's only going to become messier. I drew back my right fist, and stepped forward, throwing an immesley strong punch at the mutant's chest.

The mutant vomited blood (his heart had also ruptured) and died when I ripped my hand out of his chest cavity. He fell to the ground with a thud, his neck at an odd angle. It had been snapped by the force of the blow. I cocked my head, wiping off the gore that covered my hand, and was suddenly running over to where Bella was laying.

She was unconscious. I felt her pulse – it was weak, but strong. I slowly turned her over, and swore when I saw the gash on her back.

"Damn him." I snarled, and reverted back to my natural body state, sitting on the ground and holding her head in between my hands. I closed my eyes, and took control of her cells, making them work five times faster to heal her wound. I then wrapped my jacket around her back and picked her up, walking out of the warehouse yard with a backwards glance at the crumpled body laying on the ground. I flipped my cellphone open, and speed dialled a familiar number.

"Betsy?"

"Hey, Frosty. The Weather-Bitch told me about your heroic rescue mission. You got her?" Betsy said in her amused, British voice.

"Yeah, I've got her. Things got messy."

"Oh. How many dead?"

"One."

"Did you kill him with your _mind_? You know, so you didn't leave evidence?"

I walked past my bike, taking the keys out of the ignition. I couldn't ride and hold Bella at the same time, so I was going to have to steal a car.

"That...didn't occur to me."

"So you punched him to death instead? Goddamit! Just because you're Omega, it doesn't mean you're smart!" Betsy grumbled, "Oh well. I suppose you need me to pick up your bike?"

"Thanks." I strode towards a nearby car, smiling at the owner's stupidity. As if you would leave a new model Porsche parked on the street. I placed Bella on the back seat, clipping several seatbelts over her so she wouldn't be thrown around. I then jumped into the driver's seat and hotwired the car with practised ease.

"Okay, I'll leave now. You do know it's two in the morning?" Betsy yawned over the phone.

"Yeah, I know. Drinks on me," I put the car into drive, and slammed my foot on the accelerator, "And Betsy, I just stole a Porsche. New model."

"Keeping it?" She asked as I tore out of the town limits, heading towards Westchester.

"Yep. You can have it, if you like."

She chuckled, "I love our line of work," She said, "Don't you?"

"Yeah. Bye." I closed the phone, shook my head sadly, giving Bella a quick glance.

...

As soon as the car was at a standstill, I jumped out of the driver's seat and pulled Bella out of the back seat, running towards the mansion doors. She was jolted into consciousness, and stared up at me with brown eyes.

"Where are we?" She asked.

"Home – for you. Folks 'round here don't really like me anymore," I said grimly, sprinting up the stairs and kicking the doors open, causing several loud screams to resound from the bedrooms. Storm appeared from upstairs and ran down as I headed towards the nearest elevator.

"Bella? How do you feel?" She asked, sending a grateful glance in my direction as we both got into the elevator, and Storm sent it down to the lower levels of the mansion.

"My back hurts-" She murmured as the elevator doors opened, and I strode towards the medbay.

"He knifed her in the back. Her healing process is accelerated by five times, without any side effects," I told Storm as I set the fragile seeming girl onto a medical table. Jean appeared from one of the doorways and began to hook Bella up to some sort of a machine, and with a slight smirk I noticed the large bruise forming on her left temple.

"She's fine now – just needs sleep. How about you go and get cleaned up?" Jean murmured in my direction, looking me up and down. I was covered in Bella's blood, as well as some of the unknown mutant's.

"Smartest thing I've ever heard you say." I muttered and walked out of the room, heading towards the nearest bathroom. I pushed open the door and walked over to the hand basins, filling it up with warm water.

"You look like a demon." A voice said softly, and I looked over to see Storm standing at the door, looking at me with confusion in her eyes.

"I'm not surprised." I said, looking in the mirror. My hair was splattered with blood, and my face had crimson smears all over it. My clothes, to put it nicely, were wrecked.

I grabbed a face washer and dumped it in the water, waiting until it was soaked to scrub my face. The water rapidly turned a rusty red as my face returned to its original colour. I gave my hair a quick rinse after I changed the water, and was surprised when Storm offered me a towel and some clothes.

"I'll leave you to get changed." She said, exiting the bathroom.

Several minutes later I followed her, holding my old clothes in a bundle. I threw them in a bin next to the bathroom door, and looked at Storm.

"You said you wanted to talk."

She nodded, "But not down here." She walked over to the elevator and opened it. I followed her and she set it to go to the ground floor of the mansion.

"You saved her!" Was the first thing I heard when the doors opened. A girl threw herself at my stomach and held on tightly. It was Kitty Pryde.

"Indeed I did," I said as I patted her hair, "And I heard you attacked Jean."

"With a lamp," Kitty looked at me, "Thanks for saving Bella. The Professor forced Storm to stay here." She trotted back upstairs, and I looked over at Storm as we headed for the kitchen.

"He _forced _you?"

Storm nodded, anger in her eyes.

"I told him Bella was missing and that I was going to look for her. He placed a huge force field around the mansion, and I couldn't get past it."

"That's a bit drastic."

"Well, Jean was already knocked out by that stage, and I was the only adult here. He didn't want to leave the mansion unprotected." She murmured, and looked at me, "Thank you, Emma. We would have never of been able to reach her in time."

I raised an eyebrow as she continued.

"And I'm sorry, about the fight we had. I was wrong-"

"It's okay," I told her, "It's finished."

"But I want us to be friends again!" She said. I nodded.

"Deal," I said, and hugged her tightly, "I missed you too, 'Ro."

**Review?**


End file.
